August 2024
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 8-13-2024
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, August 13, 2024. Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also in attendance were Township residents: Bernadine Swingle, Sam Lantz, Shane Stephenson, Mike Shilling, and Donald Jones.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Slack at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Larken Slack.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: approved.
Public Participation: Donald Jones asked if anyone had been past his house. Larken told him he still had a ways to go with the clean-up. Mr. Jones asked that someone come out and show him what else needs done. Discussion continued about what defines a “junk motor vehicle”. Mr. Jones says there are 3 junk cars right now and the board stated they allow 2 junk cars per parcel. Mr. Jones says the other cars on his property are complete. Larken suggested that all 3 Trustees needed to meet at Mr. Jones’ property so they could come to an agreement on what needs to happen. The board members agreed to meet on August 19th at 6:00 pm at Mr. Jones’ property. Derek stated he would take “minutes” of the discussion. Derek noted that the first letter was mailed to Mr. Jones on March 22, 2023.
Bernadine Swingle wanted to discuss the fire department levy at the end of Craig’s report. She is concerned with the cost and stated that she wasn’t sure she could support a levy that will increase her taxes. Craig discussed the reasoning to her so she would better understand the need.
Fire Department Business: There were 140 dispatched calls in July, 95 in Muskingum County and 45 in Perry County. Total for the year is 886.
There were 5 un-covered 12-hour shifts in July.
Per the insurance company regarding the damage to house at 3045 Maysville Pike, the fire department has immunity since they are an emergency responder. Therefore, the insurance company will not cover any damage due to the immunity. The insurance company did not recommend that the department do anything regarding the damage to the home. They suggested that the homeowner file a moral claim and the department would pay for it under the moral claim. PERSO would stay involved if that is what they choose to do. Craig would like to have the property owner file a claim under his insurance and the department would pay for their deductible. Craig is not sure if the structure that was damaged was even built by a contractor so he isn’t sure how much it would cost for a repair. Larken asked if they could get an estimate and then just offer them a settlement but Craig did not want to do that until he had spoken with the board. Derek asked if he had any photos of the damage. They caught the corner of the roof of a porch. They bent the gutter a bit and some of the metal roofing. This was basically a lean-to over the porch. The taxable value of the house is around $70,000 per the Auditor’s website. Craig said the son of the property owner is hard to get in touch with and is very chill about the situation. He would like it fixed but is not real picky on it being a contractor that fixes it. There was discussion of a settlement and Craig said he is not comfortable with that unless they involve an attorney. Craig thinks if the homeowner files a moral claim that the department would just pay the actual expense to the homeowner. Derek asked if it would be more than $5,000 and Craig said he doesn’t think so, but again the quality of the construction is not exactly top shelf. Derek doesn’t feel right having the property owner turn this in on their insurance since we are at fault and this will affect their claims status and possibly raise their homeowner’s insurance rates. Craig said he has someone coming to his house tomorrow to look at something and he said he would ask him to go check out this damage just to get an idea what the cost might be to repair this. Craig can bring that information to the September meeting.
Craig would like to hold a couple of community forum’s regarding their ten-year plan to explain why they want to get off the 5-year plan. He just wanted to get the permission from the board before he starts advertising. He is thinking one in September and one in October.
Larken wanted to re-visit the Roth ID tags and he thought maybe that would be a good thing to hand out at a levy forum.
The new fire hose has been delivered. The hose testing company is coming in September 30th for their annual inspection.
The pumps were tested and the tanker failed. It has a stuck valve and Atlantic is coming this week to fix it. The old engine also failed and they think it is the discharge drain need repaired.
The department received $83,522.00 from Office of Budget Management for employee retention and recruitment bonuses. They are going to figure out how they are going to allot that money. The sign-on bonuses would be spread out over a period of time, not just a payment upon hire. The requirements for the retention bonuses is you had to have been employed and worked during the dates of the pandemic (March of 2020 to May of 2023). Employees hired since then would receive a sign-on bonus once they devise a plan on that payout.
They need to run a gas line at a cost of $2,200 for the new generator. 75 or 85 kilowatts is the size of the new generator. Larken asked what the cost would be to hook up the new generator and Craig said it should be around $800 barring no major issues.
Another mini-split failed at a cost of $8200. There is still $20,000 for building maintenance. Derek made a motion to replace that and Randy seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The department is forming a committee to spec out a new fire truck. It takes 4 to 5 years to get a truck built and delivered. The cost is somewhere around $1.2M for a new truck. They can lock in a price even though they may not take delivery for four years. There is currently a 30% per year increase on trucks so locking in a price now would be beneficial. The Rescue will reach it’s 15-year mark in 2029 and under NFPA guidelines it should go to a reserve engine status rather than a first use status.
Chicken BBQ is September 29th. The Comedy Club night is October 19th.
Craig needs information for the FEMA paperwork for the Avondale storm damage. He and Larken discussed. Craig will email the hourly benefit info to Larken once he figures all that out for all employees.
Derek made note that he would like the exterior of the building (landscaping) be kept up better if the department expects an approval for a $1.2M fire truck.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: They are working on Shaw and are about ¾ of the way on widening the road.
The water department does not want to put a water line in and then have us pave over it, per Derek. They want to run beside the road, not under it. Jason says they cannot do that because there is fiber optic cable on both sides of the road. Larken and Jason went to a Water Department meeting a few weeks ago and their board told Beth to get the Township the start date for the new construction, how long it was going to take, and the location of the waterline, all by the Trustee’s meeting tonight and they have not received anything from her. They have already dug up what they have concreted and they didn’t fix it correctly. Larken would like Mark Z. to mail the water department a letter giving the requirements if they tear up the pavement to install the new water line. Jason said he would paint the lines on the road to give Beth direction on where they can dig. Jason is going to call her tomorrow. Derek stated he could contact Mark Z. to discuss what can be done to ensure that the water department fixes what they dig up on Shaw Road.
He has put up some new signs and taken care of some trees. The dead-end sign is installed on Jenkins Drive.
They have patched some spots on Butcherknife.
Derek asked about the dust control on Workman. The brine truck was previously taken out of service and the plan was to scrap the truck.
Old Business: Derek has sent letters to Peter Huff and Michael Wilson for junk motor vehicle removal.
Derek asked FO to mail a Nuisance Abatement Resolution letter to Boyd Sanitation.
Larken has been in touch with Art from 20/20 and he quoted $17,000 / mile for chip seal. Adam Foshee with Shelly did not call him back. We need to get on the list for 20/20.
Mark Z. is going to issue a court order to clean up the Cannon property on Limestone Valley Road.
New Business: Derek wondered about a road study on Slack and Opera to get an idea how much traffic is on those roads.
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—none.
Slack— none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· There will be a meeting of the Budget Commission on August 19th at 10 a.m. If anyone wishes to attend, they need to RSVP no later than August 15th to Tina Huebner with the Auditor’s Office.
· Mr. Zanghi has re-sent the letter to attorney Rose Fox regarding the Hammers property on Crock Road with no response. He suggested the Trustees reach out to the heirs and ask them to contact Ms. Fox to see what, if anything, is happening with the estate.
· Presented Resolution 6/2024 to appropriate the $83,522.00 of ARPA funds received from the State of Ohio. Those funds have been received into Fund 2273 (the ARPA fund) and will be disbursed from the same fund.
Trustee Slack made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Elson seconded the motion. Motion carried.
All bills presented were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.
Next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:11 p.m.
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